A Great PD Opportunity for Civics Teachers in the U.S.
Summer might feel like it is a long way right now. But now is the time to start thinking about and planning for professional development you might do this summer. To that end, the National Archives is now accepting applications for the 2023 Civics for All U.S. Teacher Institute. The 2023 Civics for All U.S. […]
C-SPAN Offers a Free Electoral College Poster
C-SPAN Classroom is one of my go-to sources of ideas for lessons on current events related to U.S. government and politics. Membership in C-SPAN Classroom is free and provides members with lots of digital and physical resources. One of the resources C-SPAN Classroom is currently offering to members is a poster about the Electoral College. This […]
C-SPAN StudentCam is Back for Its 19th School Year!
Every year C-SPAN hosts the StudentCam video contest for middle school and high school students in the United States. This year’s version of the contest was announced yesterday. The theme of this year’s contest is “If you were a newly elected member of Congress, which issue would be your first priority and why?” The StudentCam contest is open […]
Classroom Posters – The Rules of Civil Conversation
When I taught civics learning to create sound, well-reasoned arguments and present them in a calm manner was a significant goal in every course. I always tried to remind them that they can disagree with another person’s opinion without attacking the person. This was particularly tricky when my high school students hit upon issues that […]
Social Studies Teachers! One Month Left to Apply for an Awesome Fellowship
I shared this news back in January, but that feels like so long ago now that some tulips are starting to poke out of the ground in my yard. This summer C-SPAN Classroom is hosting their annual teacher fellowship program in a virtual format. C-SPAN’s Summer Fellowship program is now open for applications. Those who […]
Supreme Court Lesson Plans
C-SPAN Classroom is a must-bookmark for anyone who teaches U.S. History. The large collection of free lesson plans is one of the things that keeps C-SPAN Classroom on the top of my list of go-to resources for more than a decade. And if you’re a member of C-SPAN Classroom (membership is free) you’ll get regular […]
Five Places to Find Dozens of Constitution Day Lessons
This Friday is Constitution Day in the United States. According to federal law all schools that receive federal funding have to teach some type of lesson about the Constitution on this day. C-SPAN, DocsTeach, and the National Constitution Center all offer either lesson plans or resources for building your own Constitution Day lesson plans. Constitution […]
Every U.S. Election Through 2012 Explained
The events of the last 24 hours in Washington DC have stirred emotions in nearly all of us. This morning my students wanted to talk about it in my computer science class (they know that I used to teach social studies). One of my students had heard a reference to the election of 1876 in […]
Two Short Lessons on Checks & Balances
Today is election day in the United States. While the election is fresh in our students’ minds, it is a good day to review how the three branches of federal government work in a system of checks and balances. In addition to voting for President we’ll also be voting for members of the House of […]
Five Last Minute Resources for Teaching About the Electoral College
We’re one week away from the U.S. Presidential election. While citizens cast their votes next week, the final selection happens in the Electoral College in December. That’s a concept that can be tricky for some students to understand. If you’re looking for some last minute resources for teaching about the Electoral College, take a look […]
A Handful of Videos to Help Students Understand the Electoral College
You can’t go to a news site today and not see something about the upcoming U.S. Presidential election. When you do go to those sites you’ll often find current polling data about the popularity of a given candidate and or the probability of a candidate winning. Those polls don’t always predict who will win because […]
C-SPAN Classroom Offers New Lessons on the Economic Impact of COVID-19
C-SPAN Classroom is a free resource that anyone who teaches U.S. History or civics should have bookmarked. I’ve written about many of their great resources and programs over the years including their annual student video contest and annual summer workshops for teachers. C-SPAN Classroom recently published a new lesson plan that includes a set of […]
Three More Recommended Resources for Teaching Civics and Government
Earlier this week I published a blog post in which I shared the resources that I shared with a reader who had emailed me seeking my recommended resources for teaching civics and government. I made that list completely from memory. This afternoon I dug into my archives to find a few more recommended resources for […]
Three Recommended Resources for Teaching Civics and Government
Yesterday I received an email from a reader who was looking for my recommendation for a few resources for teaching a government or civics course. The following are the recommendations that I made. iCivics is an excellent source of educational games related to various topics in civics and government. iCivics has steadily grown over the years […]
Zip Tapestry – Demographic Data and More, Mapped
Zip Lookup is an interesting use of the ESRI mapping platform. The map allows you to enter any US zip code to discover demographic data about that area. Whenever I see something like this I am skeptical of how well it will work for very small towns like the one that I live in (South Paris, […]
More Than 3500 Free Civics Lessons
60 Second Civics has long been one of my go-to resources for lessons on U.S. civics and government. 60 Second Civics is a daily podcast produced by the Center for Civic Education. Each 60 Second Civics episode offers a short lesson about US Civics. Along with each episode is a one question quiz about that day’s […]
Case Maker – Civics Lessons Built on Primary Sources
Case Maker is a free service designed for middle school social studies teachers and their students. Case Maker uses primary sources from the Library of Congress as the basis of activities in which students have to build a case in response to real civics scenarios. For example, the first cast that I tried was about […]
51 More Constitution Day Resources
Earlier this week I shared some videos and a couple of interactive resources for teaching lessons about the U.S. Constitution on Constitution Day. Constitution Day is this coming Monday and by law all schools receiving federal funds have to offer some kind of instruction on the U.S. Constitution. If you’re still looking for some resources […]
Video Resources for Constitution Day
Constitution Day in the United States is on this coming Monday. By law all schools receiving federal funds have to offer some type of instruction about the Constitution. Yesterday, I shared a couple of interactive resources that can help students learn about the U.S. Constitution. Here are a couple of video resources for teaching and […]
Two Interactive Copies of the Constitution for Constitution Day
Next Monday is Constitution Day in the United States. By law all schools that receive federal funds have to offer some instruction on on the Constitution. If you’re looking for some activities to do with your students on Constitution Day, consider having your students explore one of the following interactive displays of the Constitution. The […]
The History of the State of the Union Address
Tonight, President Trump delivered the State of the Union Address. This post is not about what he said or didn’t say tonight. Instead, it is intended to share some resources that could help you teach your students about the history of the State of the Union Address. The following two videos from CNN and Fox […]
Midterm Elections – 5 Things You Should Know
2018 is a midterm election year in the United States. What’s that mean? In short, it is the Congressional elections that happen in the middle of a president’s term in office. But to find out what midterm elections really mean, students should watch 5 Things You Should Know About Midterm Elections. In this video produced […]
What is a Grand Jury?
One of the topics that some of my civics students struggled with was understanding the court system in the United States. Keith Hughes recently published a video that I wish he had made about 10 years ago because some of those students would have benefited from watching What is a Grand Jury? In What is […]
Constitution Day Virtual Field Trip to the U.S. Senate
Constitution Day in the United States is this coming Sunday. On Friday, Discovery Education is hosting a virtual field trip to the U.S. Senate. The half hour event features a “behind the scenes” look at how the Senate works. The virtual event will include appearances from Senate Historian Dr. Betty Koed, U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee […]
Good Resources for Constitution Day Lessons
Constitution Day in the United States is just nine days away. By law, public schools are required to include a Constitution lesson during the day. Here are some resources that you might find useful in creating a Constitution Day lesson plan for your students. Keith Hughes, the face of Hip Hughes History, has a long playlist of […]
An Overview of Google’s Public Data Explorer
Google’s Public Data Explorer draws on data sets from the World Bank, the US CDC, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other sources of public data. In all there are eighty data sets. The Public Data Explorer makes it possible to quickly create visual representations and visual comparisons of the data sets. Each visualization you create has a […]
Classroom Deliberations – Lesson Plans on Current Issues in U.S. Politics
C-SPAN Classroom Deliberations is a good resource for teachers of U.S. history or civics. On the site you will find 34 lesson plans centered around issues currently debated in Congress and in U.S. political discourse in general. A few of the latest lesson plans deal with Electoral College reform, third party candidate participation in Presidential […]
C-SPAN StudentCam 2017 – Student Messages for Washington
C-SPAN’s StudentCam contest is an annual event that invites students to produce short videos about current issues related to United States government. The 2016-17 version of the contest asks students to deliver a message to Washington about the most urgent issues for the new President and Congress to address. The StudentCam contest is open to […]
A Lesson on the First U.S. Presidential Election
In my previous post I shared a video from Keith Hughes in which he explains the origins of the Electoral College. It’s a great explanation of the original arguments for and against the creation of the Electoral College which has chosen every President beginning with George Washington. Keith offers a lesson about that first election. In three […]
5 Videos to Help Students Understand the Electoral College
A new President of the United States will be chosen tomorrow, kind of. The popular vote which in most states determines how the electors in the Electoral College will vote in December. If that sentence baffles your students, they could benefit from one of the following short video explanations of the Electoral College. This TED-Ed […]
#TeacherDebate – A Live Lesson About the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election
Next week on Tuesday night Keith Hughes, Tom Richey, and Nicholas Ferroni will be conducting a mock Presidential debate on Google Hangouts. Keith will represent Clinton’s positions. Tom will represent the positions of Trump. And Nicholas will be the moderator. The event will be streamed and recorded on Keith’s Hip Hughes History channel. Learn more […]
Electoral Decoder Shows Students the Math of Presidential Elections
Throughout 2016 PBS has been steadily adding more features to their Election Central website for students. Electoral Decoder is one of the recent additions to the site that I discovered through an ad on Facebook. Electoral Decoder uses cartograms to show students the math of the Electoral College. In other words, it shows them that […]
The Evolution of Presidential Campaign Commercials
As the campaign for the White House continues to heat up, tonight’s debate should make that clear, it might be a good idea to take a look back at how campaigns have evolved over the last sixty years. The Living Room Candidate is a great website shows visitors how political campaigns have evolved. The Living […]
Identifying Arguments – A Debate Assignment for High School Students
The first debate between U.S. Presidential candidates is happening tonight at 9pm ET/ 6pm PT. Lifehacker has a list of all of the ways that you can watch the debate even if you don’t have a cable/ satellite television. The debate should provide high school students with a good opportunity to learn more about the […]
You Choose 2016 Teaches Kids About the Presidential Election Process
Last month I featured the classroom debate kits from PBS Election Central. This week PBS published another good resource for helping students learn about the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. PBS Kids You Choose is designed to help elementary school students understand some of the key points of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. The site features […]
50 for 50 Writing Contest for Students
Middle school and high school social studies teachers in the U.S. who are looking for a writing project to start the year, should take a look at PBS Election Central’s 50 for 50 writing contest. The contest asks students to draft open letters to Presidential candidates. The letters should include ideas and suggestions on what […]
PBS Election Central Offers Debate Kits for Classrooms
Earlier this year PBS launched a new version of Election Central. That website is dedicated to helping teachers help students understand the process of choosing the next President of the United States. Join the Debates is one of the features of Election Central that teachers should find useful as we head into the last couple […]
How Much Does It Cost to Run for President?
Now that the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign is in full swing it’s a good time to take a look at how much it costs to run for President. In the video below the folks at Brain Stuff have done a nice job of explaining the cost of running a campaign. More resources for teaching and […]
A Crash Course on Foreign Policy
Last fall PBS Digital Studios and Crash Course launched a series on government and politics. The 50th and last installment in the series is about foreign policy. The from trade to human rights to environmental concerns the video covers most facets of what foreign policy is and how governments interact with each other. The video […]
The First Presidential Election – A Hip Hughes History Lesson
A few weeks ago in my post about the Electoral College I included a list of lessons about Presidential Elections from 1900 through 2012. Those lessons were created by Keith Hughes. This week he released another lesson. Keith’s latest lesson is about the first Presidential election. In three minutes Keith runs-down what made the first […]
How Does the Electoral College Work? – And Election Outcomes Explained
The United States will choose a new president this year. Students often ask why the process is not as simple just having everyone show up to vote on a given day in November, counting the votes, and declaring a winner. Here are some resources to help students understand the process of choosing a new President […]